I’m kind of in the “it depends” school of thought. We had a sub-string discussion of this in the “Wesleyan Ends Legacy Admissions” thread that dealt briefly with whether being a “celebrity” alum can bestow an edge to their children (the discussion collapsed in typical CC fashion when no one could agree on what constituted a “celebrity”. LOL)
I think it’s just the ecology in which very expensive things exist. And the four-year residential college experience is one of those Very Expensive Things. It’s the reason you no longer see mom-and-pop drug stores. The last time I filled a prescription at one (anyone who lives south of 14th Street in Manhattan knows which one I’m referring to), I passed Larry Fishburne on his way out. Was it because that family-owned business went out of its way to recruit successful actors? I think it’s because they offered a certain level of service for which Mr. Fishburne was willing to pay a premium (and I no longer am.)
IMHO, unless the college is offering heavy tuition discounts in the form of either need-based financial aid (or merit-aid where it may help families in the proverbial “donut hole”), it’s the upper-upper end of the upper-middle class that determines how much money a college must spend on curb appeal, emotional support staff - and litigation insurance. The rest of us are just along for the ride.
I’ll assume we’re done discussing the rules and that nobody will object that I deleted 5 posts on the subject. There’s a mechanism for questioning the rules you all agreed to, but it’s not this thread. Hint - it’s listed in the link to the rules appearing in the bottom of this, and every, page.
It is hard to see some of this not going on. As people have mentioned, Brown was (is?) notorious for this.
Even at a lesser level, Harvard has what I think was called the Z-list (not sure if the nomenclature has changed). Children of professors and other worthy folk whose kids could manage the work at Harvard but would not make the admissions cut otherwise were guaranteed admission if they went off and did a gap year that was deemed appropriate. I know of several such kids. All did a gap year, went to Harvard, did fine, and have good careers. But, without the Z-list, they would have had to go elsewhere.
On the other hand, I know a best selling mystery writer who attended a prestigious college and went to far as to give his child had a different last name so the child would not be obviously identified. I suspect that this had more to do with avoiding kidnapping, but I wonder what they did when applying to college.
And isn’t there a space on common applications to enter the parents’ information, anyway? Not unusual at all for a kid to have a different last name than one parent.
The author is the father. It is probably less common for a child not to have the father’s surname. I don’t think his name is a pen name so the child’s name is uncommon. The father’s name would be relevant both for legacy and for colleges like Brown that want celebrities’ kids. I’m not sure if it affected this particular child’s college opportunities.
Presumably the child correctly listed his legacy connection to the appropriate school. As to whether other colleges were informed of his father’s fame, and whether that would have mattered to them, I expect it would vary by school.
I doubt he “sent” his kid to Brown. More likely, Griffin chose Brown. Not all of us follow our parents’ ideology, and with 11 children, odds are some will have their own perspective.
It depends on how strictly Elon wants to push his own views on his kids.
I personally know someone who rants about how schools like Columbia and Berkeley are filled with “commies” and “left-wing loonies”, but is paying for his kid at Columbia. I guess he (the person I know, not Elon) is either letting his kid make her own choice, or places a higher value on the name brand benefits she’ll accrue by going there.
However, even in those cases, parental money is the biggest factor in expanding most college students’ choice of college, and lack of parental money is the biggest limitation.
Maybe Grandma is paying the bill at Brown-- directly- which helps circumvent the annual gifting limit and is a nice estate planning tactic for affluent grandparents.